Russia’s Public Diplomacy in ASEAN Countries

Public diplomacy is a foreign policy tool aimed at establishing human contacts, strengthening cultural, scientific, and business ties between countries and peoples. Russia seeks to strengthen its positions in various regions of the world, paying special attention to humanitarian cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries. Historically, thanks to successful Soviet public diplomacy and anticolonial discourse, it has a strong position in this region of the world. Meanwhile, the formation of the current elites of the region took place from the 1990s to 2000s, when Russia withdrew from many formats of cooperation. Since the early 2020s, Moscow has been trying to strengthen its public diplomacy in all areas, in the field of cultural, scientific, and business cooperation. Both official structures and civil society initiatives are involved in this area. Extra-regional players are actively working in Southeast Asia, and Russia is trying to offer formats of cooperation that meet the interests of young people. The region is listed in fifth place by the regional priorities according to the Russian foreign policy concept.